The house of representatives has inaugurated a 21-member ad hoc committee to oversee the emergency rule in Rivers state.

Speaking while inaugurating the committee on Tuesday, Tajudeen Abbas, speaker of the house, said the move indicates the parliament’s “dedication to transparent governance and the rule of law in our country”. 

On March 18, President Bola Tinubu declared a state of emergency in the Rivers, citing a political crisis.

He also suspended Siminalayi Fubara, governor of the state; his deputy, Ngozi Odu; and all members of the Rivers assembly for a period of six months.

The president appointed Ibok-Ete Ibas, a retired naval chief, as the state’s sole administrator.

Shortly after his appointment, Ibas suspended all political officeholders appointed by Fubara.

During the Monday’s event, Abbas, who expressed support for the state of emergency, recalled how similar measures were implemented under previous administrations, particularly during Olusegun Obasanjo’s tenure, when some serving governors were suspended.

“This decisive action was taken out of genuine patriotism and a deep concern for the security and welfare of both the people of Rivers State and our country as a whole,” he said.

“The President’s extraordinary actions were not taken lightly. They reflect a profound sense of duty and responsibility and a recognition that when democratic institutions falter, decisive action is necessary to protect the interests of the nation. This same sense of duty underpins our proceedings today.”

Abbas said when a state of emergency was declared in some states in the past, the intervention of the national assembly ensured continuity in governance.

He cited section 11(4) of the 1999 constitution, saying it confers on the parliament the authority to make laws for any state in which its legislature is unable to perform its statutory functions. It states that:

“It is paramount to note that the current administration in Rivers state is inherently temporary,” Abbas said.

Abbas said Ibas’ role is “strictly circumscribed”, adding that he is charged with maintaining law and order and ensuring that the basic functions of governance are met only until full democratic governance is restored.

“The administrator is required to operate with the highest levels of transparency and accountability, reporting directly to the national assembly on all matters that pertain to the peace, order and good government of the State as prescribed by the constitution,” Abbas added.

He said the duty of the committee is to monitor the implementation of federal directives and policies in Rivers state, ensure that the caretaker administration adheres to the law, and protect the public interest while facilitating the re-establishment of full democratic governance in the state.

“The members of this committee have been selected with meticulous care by the house leadership based on their integrity, experience, and steadfast dedication to the national interest,” Abbas said.

The speaker asked members of the committee to carry out the assignment with the “highest standards of professionalism, impartiality, and diligence”.

“In fulfilling your mandate, you must conduct your oversight in strict accordance with the constitution and avoid all forms of partisanship or bias,” he told the panel members,” he said.

“It is imperative that you monitor every aspect of the caretaker administration’s conduct, scrutinise public expenditures, and ensure that all federal directives and policies are implemented as intended.

“Moreover, it is expected that you will regularly report your findings to this house in a transparent manner, enabling us to continuously assess the impact of the emergency measures and to take further legislative action if necessary.

“Beyond mere oversight, your work must actively support efforts to restore lasting peace and re-establish a fully functioning democratic system in Rivers state.

“You are called upon to interface with federal agencies, security institutions, and any reconciliation initiatives that may be established, fostering trust among all stakeholders in the process.”

Abbas added that the committee members must be conscientious, forthright and astute in the assignment.

[TheCable]

Gunmen reportedly stormed a prayer session  at a remote mountain site in the Egbola area, along Agbaja Road in Lokoja Local Government Area of Kogi State and abducted an unspecified number of the worshipers.

The incident is said to have occurred  on  Friday during  a night  vigil  on the mountain.

A woman identified as Mary Adams Gure was said to have been rescued  by men of the state vigilante services who got the wind of the incident and mobilized to the scene and confronted the gunmen in a gun duel.

According to the source, their  attackers stormed the prayer ground, firing sporadically to instil fear before forcefully whisking  the worshippers into the  bush.

The rescued woman was said to have escaped amidst chaos.

“The vigilantes  were  mobilized quickly  in response to the attack; and in the process, Gure was rescued . A search-and-rescue operation is ongoing to locate the remaining abducted faithful.

“Gure managed to escape and later found safety, thanks to the swift intervention of local vigilante members who were alerted and got to the scene of the incident on time,” the vigilante source said.

The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP William Aya, did not respond to calls and messages sent to him on the incident.

 [DailyTrust]

Niger Delta human rights activist, Ann-Kio Briggs, has accused Rivers State Administrator, Ibok Ete Ibas of pouring petrol to the fire President Bola Tinubu sent him to quench in the state.

This was as she said Ibas’s actions in the state were contrary to what the president sent him to do.

DAILY POST reports that Tinubu appointed Ibas, Nigeria’s Chief of Naval Staff from July 2015 to January 2021, as the Administrator of the oil-rich state in March after the President declared state of emergency and suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Ngozi Odu.

The president had said that his decision was to restore peace in the state following the political tension between Governor Fubara and the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike.

However, speaking on ‘Politics Today’, a programme on Channels Television on Monday, Ann-Kio Briggs alleged that Ibas is pouring petrol on fire.

“First of all, I can assure you that he is pouring petrol on a fire Mr President believes that was on.

“So, he was told to come and pour water on that fire, to quench it. Well, he has done nothing of the sort, I have told you that he has removed people who were constitutionally and democratically in governance.

“There were no issues, and he came along and removed everybody. Even in the government house, it is alleged that he has removed the pictures of Siminalayi Fubara. I repeat Siminalayi Fubara remains the governor of Rivers State,” Ann-Kio Briggs said.

According to her, Ibas is currently overseeing violence in Rivers State, saying that the retired military chief is not welcomed in the state.

She added that although the President stated the state of emergency would last for six months, it doesn’t mean he can’t change his mind and return everything to the status quo before the stipulated time.

Recall that earlier on Monday, two groups of women held rallies in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

While one group was in support of Ibas and the emergency rule, the other group who were half-clothed demanded the return of Fubara.

[DailyPost]

The suspended governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara, has slammed the Nigeria Police over their alleged high-handedness and clampdown on peaceful demonstrators in parts of Rivers State, as political tension continues to escalate in the oil-rich South-South state.

This followed two separate protests by women’s groups who took to the streets in Port Harcourt City Local Government Area and Ahoada East Local Government Area of Rivers State to express their feelings about the declaration of a state of emergency in the state.

The Port Harcourt protesters were in support of the emergency rule while the Ahoada East protesters called for the reinstatement of Fubara.

Last Friday, a group of women under the aegis of Rivers Women Unite for Sim protested against the emergency rule in the state and demanded the reinstatement of Governor Siminalayi Fubara.

The women carrying out the latest protest under the auspices of ‘Rivers Women for Peace and Good Governance’, mostly dressed in white, said the emergency rule was constitutional.

They also denied being hired to support emergency rule in the state, even as they declared their support for President Bola Tinubu.

The women had gathered at the Garrison junction at about 7.30am on Monday, marched through Aba Road and arrived at the popular Isaac Park in Port Harcourt.

They sang and displayed placards with several inscriptions to drive home their message.

Some of the inscriptions on the placards read,” Emergency rule is Constitutional,” “Rivers women voted for you but you made us your slaves”, “ Investigate Fubara’s bloated contracts award”, “say no to dictatorship”, “Rivers women need peace in our state”, “we support Tinubu”,  among others.

Led by the former commissioner for Social Welfare in the state, Mrs Inime Aguma, and others, the protesters claimed that the state of emergency had brought relative calm and peace to Rivers since the emergency regime.

Mrs Aguma, speaking to journalists after the rally, expressed support for the Sole Administrator of Rivers State Vice Admiral Ibok-Ette Ibas (retd.), saying his leadership has brought peace and good governance in the State.

She stated, “Gathered here are Rivers women who need peace in Rivers State. We are gathered here because of the anomalies in our system.

“We also thank the President for declaring a state of emergency in Rivers State. We are grateful and pleased with it and living well with it.

“We said this because our democratic structure was decimated, the House of Assembly was left comatose and there cannot be any democracy with only two arms of government working.

“We know the doctrine of separation of powers, the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. For over two years, the legislature was clamped down; we have a big wound that needs to heal.

“The House of Assembly was burnt down because of rumours of impeachment and while that was going on, the assembly complex was demolished, the taxpayers’ money was spent; that is an aberration.”

She added, “Despite such an incident, there was no investigation. Recently, we have heard the former Head of Service, Dr. George Nwaeke, mention some allegations against the former government. We want the police to follow up on such allegations.

“Let us not be emotional and sentimental about facts.  We have not had a government in Rivers State.”

Meanwhile, the situation at the Ahoada protest did not go down well as security operatives fired teargas at the women protesting against the emergency rule in Rivers State and the reinstatement of the suspended governor.

Around 200 protesters from Elleye and Engine communities in Ahoada East Local Government Area marched to condemn the appointment of a sole administrator in the state.

While the women from Ahoada were teargassed during their demonstration, members of the ‘Women for Peace and Good Governance’ group, who held a rally in Port Harcourt in support of the emergency rule, carried out their activities peacefully without any interference.

As the pro-Fubara women marched and chanted solidarity songs, they held placards with various messages, even as security operatives, including police officers, attempted to stop their progress.

Some of the placards bore messages such as “Ibas leave us alone” and “Our democracy is threatened,” among others.

Our correspondent further observed that after the women refused to back down from the protest, security operatives, including the police, fired teargas to disperse them, causing the protesters to flee in different directions.

A viral video that later surfaced online showed emotional scenes as some women were seen crying after inhaling the teargas. They insisted they wanted Governor Fubara reinstated to power.

An elderly woman without a brassiere was spotted in the video being supported by others who held her by the hand.

In the same footage, soldiers were seen attempting to disperse the crowd, pushing the women back and forcefully removing the banners and placards they were displaying.

One of the women said, “We are here to tell President Bola Tinubu that since he declared a state of emergency in Rivers State, it has not been easy. We, the women, are hungry; we are suffering and dying.

“Sim is our hope. We say bring back our Governor. We love him. We say no to emergency rule in Rivers State. We voted for Sim, not sole administrator. We don’t want a caretaker.

“Let the FCT Minister remain in Abuja and leave Sim alone.”

Soon after, the chorus of ‘We want Fubara, we want Fubara’ filled the air while three of the elderly women knelt on the floor saying, “We want peace in Rivers State”.

Reacting to the twin protest, Special Adviser to the suspended Governor on Electronics Media, Jerry Omatsogunwa, hailed the pro-Fubara protesters, describing them as heroes of democracy.

Omatsogunwa, however, berated the women in Port Harcourt who supported the emergency rule and backed the appointment of a sole administrator in the state.

He also slammed the police for the unequal treatment of the protesters, firing teargas at one and providing security for the other.

He stated, “First and foremost, I want to thank the women in Ahoada for standing and fighting for democracy. And it is like the police have two standards for the same activity right now.

“You can see old women who came out in Ahoada to exercise their right to protest when they see that things are not going well, the police teargassed them. The police teargassed them to the extent that one of them, an old woman, fainted.

“While the ones in Port Harcourt here that said they support illegality and said they support the King Solomon son-division situation that said let us kill the child so that we can prove the owner, they were guarded, protected and directed by the police.

“So I tell you, those women who protested in Port Harcourt, I think they don’t mean well for the state, and the ones that protested in Ahoada, I say kudos. They are the heroes of democracy.”

Fubara’s aide added, “I think the whole world should keep an eye on the state Commissioner of Police and the sole administrator.

“When the sole administrator came here, he said there was no problem in the state. Maybe he has another agenda because we learnt he is nursing a governorship ambition in his own Cross River

State, so he needs to also gather some money just to justify it.”

The political crisis in the oil-rich state had escalated into a full-blown conflict before President Bola Tinubu declared a state of emergency and suspended Governor Fubara, his deputy, Mrs. Ngozi Odu, and all elected members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

Tinubu further appointed Ibas as the sole administrator of the state for an initial period of six months.

This directive was supported by the Senate and House of Representatives through a voice vote.

Consequently, 11 PDP governors sued the President and the National Assembly before the Supreme Court, challenging the President’s powers to declare an emergency rule and suspend elected officials in a state

The PDP governors have further engaged 11 Senior Advocates of Nigeria and six other attorneys to battle the Federal Government at the Supreme Court on what powers the President has to declare emergency rule in a state and suspend a democratically elected institution of the state.

Meanwhile, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), has sprung into action and commenced drafting the response of President Bola Tinubu to the Peoples Democratic Party’s governors’ suit challenging the declaration of emergency rule in Rivers State.

[Punch]

The first head of government that declared a state of emergency in Nigeria was the then Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (December 1912 – January 15, 1966) and that was in May 1962. I was a student then at Olofin Anglican Grammar School in Idanre in Ondo State, along with Folu Olamiti, Prince Wale Olateru-Olagbegi, Olu Adegboro, Feyi Famutimi(75) and others. 

He declared the state of emergency in the Western Region which now comprises South-West and parts of South-South.

The crisis was an internal affairs in the then region which later consumed the whole country. 

The crisis of the Action Group which reared its ugly head at the party’s annual convention held in Jos, Plateau in January 1962 started like a joke. It was at the convention that the General Secretary of the party, Chief Ayotunde Rosiji (1917-2000) resigned and Mr. Samuel Goomsu Ikoku (1912-1997) took over as the Chief Scribe of the party. Chief Anthony Eromosele Enahoro (1923-2010) became the deputy leader of the party. Mr. Sam Ikoku had earlier defeated his father, Dr. Alvan Ikoku by 59 votes in the Eastern Nigeria House of Assembly election. 

The 8th convention of the party was held in African Sports Club in Jos with Chief Ajibola Idowu Ige,SAN(1930-2001) elected Publicity Secretary of the party and with Professor Samuel Adepoju Aluko(1929-2012), Prof. Hezekiah Adedunmola Oluwafemi Oluwasanmi (1919-1983), Prof. Victor Adenuga Oyenuga(1917-2010),Chief Arthur Edward Prest(1906-1976), Prof. H.E. Ajose, Dr. Sanya Dojo Onabamiro (1913-1985) and Prof. Akinlawon Ladipo Mabogunje (October 18, 1931 – August 4, 2022), in attendance. 

At the convention, the then leader of the party, Chief Obafemi Awolowo (1909-1987), was on one side, while the Premier of the Western Region at the time, Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola (1912-1966) was on another side. The crisis snowballed into a major national crisis, the consequences of which we still face today.

Before the declaration of the state of emergency, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa had issued a press statement on May 22, 1962. In the statement, he declared: “The two factions in the Action Group have contacted the Prime Minister regarding the holding of another meeting of the Western Nigeria house of assembly today. The Prime Minister cannot stop the meeting from taking place, but because of the fight which has broken out in the house this morning, if the parties decide to hold a meeting of the house of assembly they may do so. It may be on the strict understanding that there will be no police protection within the chamber. If, however, any party insists on being afforded police protection within the chamber the police may be so present, but the Federal Government will not accept any decision reached as a result of such proceedings in the chamber. If in spite of all efforts of the police there should be an outbreak of violence or any disorder, the police have authority to clear the chamber and lock it up”.

Despite this clarification, no solution was found to the Western Region crisis; in fact, the situation became more tensed. However, the logistical problems of the army, which was transferring most of its battalion between the Congo and home depots, a token number of troops and armoured vehicles went to Ibadan to back up the police if necessary. The GOC of the army (General Welby-Everard) caused an administrative sensation by moving his tactical headquarters to Ibadan and setting up a joint ‘pol-mil’ HQ with the Inspector General of Police Sir Kerr Bovell(1913-1973). It was unprecedented. Some AG members asked Chief Anthony Enahoro to go abroad to tell the world of a threat to democracy. 

On May 29, 1962, then Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (1912-1966), summoned an emergency meeting of the Federal House of Representatives which was then the Federal Parliament in Lagos during which he moved a motion on the Action Group crisis. 

*Read the full motion as reproduced and the reply of the then opposition leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, next week. 

To be concluded 

•Teniola, a former director at the Presidency, wrote from Lagos.

Kylian Mbappe joined Real Madrid in search of Champions League glory, hoping to be on the right side of exactly the kind of magical night they need against Arsenal on Wednesday if they are to progress to the semi-finals.

The Gunners lead 3-0 after dismantling the holders in London last week in the quarter-final first leg, leaving Madrid craving the sort of dramatic comeback the 15-time winners are renowned for.

Returning from a three-goal defeat would be step further than anything Los Blancos have managed so far, but that is precisely why they tried to lure Mbappe to the club for years.

The French superstar’s explosive edge gives Madrid hope of achieving what appears to be borderline impossible.

“Of course we can,” said Mbappe on his way out of the Emirates last Tuesday, heading to the team bus after Arsenal’s stunning victory.

Declan Rice struck two sublime free-kicks and Mikel Merino’s third helped Mikel Arteta’s side put one foot in the final four.

Arsenal will be fully aware the job is not yet complete, having seen Mbappe’s devastating impact against Premier League champions Manchester City earlier this season.

Mbappe netted a hat-trick against Pep Guardiola’s side in February at the Santiago Bernabeu in the play-off round, helping Madrid eliminate City 6-3 on aggregate.

The striker was sent off for a wild challenge against Alaves in La Liga on Sunday, putting his team-mates under pressure, but can make it up to them with a special performance at the Santiago Bernabeu against Arsenal.

Madrid scraped a 1-0 win and Mbappe only played 38 minutes before his dismissal, so he should be fresh for Wednesday.

Mbappe has 33 goals in 49 games across all competitions this season, matching Madrid’s all-time top goalscorer Cristiano Ronaldo’s tally in his first season at the club.

– ‘Big night’ –

Mbappe failed to lift the Champions League trophy with Paris Saint-Germain during his seven seasons at the club and in 2022, was on the sharp end of a spectacular Real Madrid comeback.

PSG led 1-0 from the last 16 first leg, with Mbappe on target, and he netted his second goal of the tie to give the French side the lead at the Bernabeu.

It sparked Real Madrid into life and a remarkable 17-minute Karim Benzema hat-trick turned the tie around and powered Los Blancos into the quarter-finals, on the way to lifting the trophy.

Mbappe said his treble against Man City was exactly the kind of night he was craving.

“I’ve been dreaming of moments like this since I was a kid, to play for this club and to feel what it’s like on a big night at the Bernabeu,” said the Frenchman.

“A lot of people have told me about it, but now I’ve seen it with my own eyes, and I hope we’ll have many more.”

In 2022 Madrid made a stunning comeback to beat Man City despite trailing 5-3 on aggregate in the final minutes of the semi-final second leg, progressing 6-5 in the end.

Perhaps their most important comeback came in the 2014 final against rivals Atletico, trailing 1-0 until Sergio Ramos headed home in the 93rd minute to force extra-time, with Los Blancos winning 4-1 to claim ‘La Decima’, their 10th Champions League trophy.

They also overcame a 2-0 quarter-final first leg deficit against Wolfsburg in 2016, winning the second leg 3-0 with a Ronaldo hat-trick.

Mbappe would dearly love to emulate the Portuguese forward’s feat against Arsenal.

“At the Santiago Bernabeu, comebacks are always on everyone’s lips,” said Ronaldo.

Madrid and comebacks have been synonomous since the 1980s when winger Juanito was involved in several, including the UEFA Cup semi-finals in 1985.

“90 minutes at the Bernabeu is a long time,” he warned Inter Milan after the hosts won the first leg 2-0 in Italy, with Madrid going on to triumph 3-0 on their way to glory.

Mbappe came to Madrid to add to their rich history and Arsenal’s visit presents the ideal opportunity.

“We have to believe, we have to have confidence,” said coach Carlo Ancelotti last week. “Because sometimes, quite often at the Bernabeu, it happens.”

[Vanguard]

Obafemi Hamzat, deputy governor of Lagos state, says his electricity bill inexplicably skyrocketed from N2.7 million in March to N29 million in April.

Hamzat said the electricity distribution company (DisCo) also frustrated his efforts to utilise the prepaid meter he procured.

Punch reports that the deputy governor spoke on Monday during a roundtable discussion between the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) and the Lagos state government in Victoria Island.

Both parties were billed to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the electrification of rural communities in Lagos.

Hamzat, who represented Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos, at the event, decried what he called “crazy bills” from DisCos.

“People that are trying to survive, and the common denominator for them is power. They don’t have power. There are billing challenges. In fact I’m a very good example,” he said.

“Last month, in my house, or the state house that I live in, the bill was N2.7 million last month. This month, Eko DisCo sent us a bill of N29 million.

“I sent it to the commissioner for energy. It’s crazy. I actually procured a meter. I bought a meter to say, ‘Look, don’t give estimated billing’. I bought the meter, but to convert it is wahala.”

He narrated how a consumer in the Coker Aguda area of Surulere was charged N2.8 million when his house rent is N2 million per annum.

“There’s a place called Coker Aguda in Surulere, and people came to me, and I was asking them to calm down. A man’s rent in a year is about N2 million; they gave him a bill of N2.8 million for electricity,” he said.

“How can the bill be more than the man’s rent for a year? Those are the challenges that we have.

“Our people are suffering because of estimated billing.”

Hamzat commended Biodun Ogunleye, commissioner for energy, for facilitating a solar power deal with the REA.

In his remarks, Ogunleye said Lagos has entered a partnership with REA to unlock new opportunities.

“Opportunities for those who never thought in their lifetime they would experience or live within an environment where there will be constant and stable supply of electricity,” he said.

“I am delighted that I know that REA has been to a number of other states, but when you are not in Lagos, you’re not yet there.”

[TheCable]

Periodic harvest of death through mindless killing of innocent men, women and children by bandits which have unfortunately become regular feature of the Middle Belt region especially the Benue/Plateau axis, according to Governor Caleb Mutfwang occurred  again last week resulting in the massacre of over 50 people in Bokkos.

But, as common with Middle Belt region leaders who got integrated into the power structure through either marriage, business or politics by the hegemonic power in the north, self-preservation is often the first law. This was why the governor was going to play the ostrich so as not to rock the boat until Channel TV’s Seun Okinbaloye’s probing question left him no room for equivocation. He was forced to declare – “as I speak to you there are not less than 64 communities taken over, renamed and people are living there on land they push people away from”. Writhing his hands in helplessness like his predecessors in office, he attributed the nightmare of his people to “genocide sponsored by terrorist from somewhere” and “proliferation of sophisticated arms”.

Mutfwang cannot out of desire for self-preservation suppress facts about the killings in the Middle Belt and those behind the killings. It is on record that no less than 1,000 persons were killed in Jos and its environs as a result of ethno-religious conflagrations in n 2001, about 700 killed due to communal clashes in Yelwa, southern Plateau, in 2004; Scores in Jos in January 2010 as a result of sectarian clashes including the killing of nearly 150 Muslims in Kan Karama while December 2010’s Christmas eve explosions in two Christian neighbourhoods in Jos, followed by several days of sectarian violence, left at least 107 persons dead.

We have also been told that the number of renamed communities in 2020 was about 102 while as at July 2023, we have  an estimated 18,751 internally displaced persons, many of them  condemned to IDP camps where they face hunger diseases and uncertain future .( Gideon and Funmi Para-Mallam Peace Foundation).

The governor was hesitant when it came to disclosing the identities of those assailants sacking communities, confiscating land and sending victims to IDP camps. He can keep his peace as credible Fulani voices like Sheik Gumi, Nasir El Rufai, Aminu Masari and Abdullahi Ganduje have already identified them as disgruntled immigrant Fulani herders who want recognition and compensation after their heinous crimes. The tragedy of besieged people of Benue and Plateau is that they have continued to be betrayed by their leaders.

For fear of antagonizing the hegemonic power in the north, the Justice Nikki Tobi Commission report that came out during Obasanjo’s presidency was for instance never implemented; Joshua Dariye’s introduction of vigilante groups- The Rainbow Boys – was not allowed to operate just as Jonah Jang’s anti-land grabbing and anti-kidnapping bills were never passed by the state House of Assembly.

It was for the same reason successive leaders of the Middle Belt region who for a long time opposed state and community policing could not replicate the Southwest Amotekun security architecture model. It was the same reason they would rather listen to Shehu Garba’s criticism of community policing than the timely advice by Theophilus Danjuma, the late crusader for Middle Belt self-actualization to the effect that those facing threat of genocide can defend themselves by procuring guns from where their tormentors got their own if government refused to give them licence to officially buy guns to protect themselves.

The people of the Middle Belt have not changed. They remain the same people whose land was never conquered, the same brave warriors Uthman Dan Fodio hired as mercenaries to prosecute his wars and the same people who staged an insurrection immediately after independence to press their demand for self-actualisation. What changed are leaders driven more by consideration for self-preservation than patriotic zeal to serve their people.

The nightmare of the people of Middle Belt region started with the death of Joseph Tarka, and Chief Obafemi Awolowo the greatest advocate for the creation of the Middle Belt Region. Awolowo remained the last man standing during the 1957 London constitutional debate following betrayal by Ahmadu Bello, the NPC leader and Nnamdi Azikiwe the NCNC leader, both of whom were driven by greed to corner land belonging to various Nigerian ethnic nationalities for the exclusive use of their own people.

A brief journey through history will show how both shared a common philosophy of how to manage Nigerian land spaces.

Ahmadu Bello and the hegemonic power in the north saw Nigeria as a land ordained by God for the stateless Fulani across West Africa with his great grandfathers capturing of Hausa land over which he imposed 13 of his kinsmen and one Hausa as Emirs. On his part, Zik who believed Igbo race had been ordained  by God to lead the children of Africa, was also convinced that everywhere in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa should be home to his industrious and entrepreneurial Igbo people.

It is therefore not difficult to see why Zik and his supporters did not see any contradiction in recommending a unitary system for a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural Nigeria or attempting to take over Yoruba nation in 1952 in the name of fake nationalism using his West African Pilot as tool of propaganda.

And if further reasons are needed, Emeka Ojukwu’s strategy for the civil war which started as a war between the north and the east also said it all. For instance, instead of confronting the northern soldiers that attacked the Eastern Region from Makurdi, the Biafra Army overran Midwest, appointed an Igbo administrator and was on the way to Lagos before they were stopped at Ore, in Ondo State. But that was not before his insolent letter to Victor Banjo stating that he Ojukwu would decide who the administrator of Lagos would be after the pacification of Yoruba land.

Not much has changed since the beginning of the Fourth Republic. The new campaign is no more unitarism but citizenship as the answer to the national question. In this regard, there is currently a bill in the National Assembly by Hon Benjamin Okezie Kalu which will legitimise immigrants’ takeover of ancestral home of host communities, a superior alternative to the ongoing bandits’ mindless killings in the Middle Belt region.

The Fulani leaders never pretended about what they wanted out of Nigeria. With Uthman Dan Fodio’s subjugation of Hausa and sharing of their land among his siblings, his grandchildren believe Nigeria is a land ordained for stateless Fulani across West Africa. Ilorin was later to be seized through the help of Afonja, the Oyo Are Ona Kanakafo stationed in Ilorin. Oyo was later sacked by Fulani invaders who were stopped at Osogbo by the Ibadan army.

What the Fulani leader could not get through war, they got through British colonial power. At the 1950 Ibadan constitutional conference, they insisted and secured 50% of membership of the Nigerian legislative house as condition for remaining part of post independent Nigeria.

For the Fulani, like their Igbo rivals, not much have changed. It is still the same sense of entitlement over land that is fuelling the crisis in The Middle Belt and elsewhere in the country. Abubakar Malami, former Attorney General of the Federation once insisted that armed immigrant Fulani herders have right to occupy Ondo forest reserve. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi publicly encouraged Fulani herders to disobey Benue State’s anti-open grazing laws. Bauchi State governor, Bala Mohammed not too long ago passed a ‘fatwa’ through Channels TV, declaring any Fulani from any part of Africa, a Nigerian. Leaders of the herders wrote a 70-page letter to Muhammadu Buhari as president insisting open grazing is part of Fulani culture and threatened to make the country ungovernable if restricted from grazing in any part of the country.

And their strategy for managing power has not changed. Tafawa Balewa, a minority from southern Bauchi was picked as prime minister in the first republic. He did everything Ahmadu Bello wanted including ‘doing nothing’ because of self-preservation even as the West burned.

Gowon was installed Head of State after the 1966 July military vengeance coup over his seniors in breach of military protocol.  It was not a surprise that when the rivalry between the Igbo and Fulani ended in a civil war, Gowon and other notable Middle Belt military officers including Danjuma who has today become a leading voice of resistance, fought like slaves because of self-preservation.

Chiefs Solomon Lar, Barnabas Gemade, Audu Ogbe, Ahmadu Ali, Kawu Baraje were for 16 years chairmen of the then ruling PDP. But they all pretended not to see the daily harvest of death from their home. David Mark and Bukola Saraki jointly occupied the senate presidency, the third most powerful office for 12 years. But fear of Fulani hegemonic power blinded them to the daily misery of their people.

For all Middle Belt politicians, it is always the law of self-preservation.